Why Do Private Companies Take Part In Space Exploration?

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Ever since the Cold War, humanity has been exploring outer space and breaking new boundaries. We have made countless of discoveries by traveling space and will continue to make more in the future. Traditionally NASA, which is run by the government, has been in charge of all of our country’s space travel. However, over the years the government has lowered funding for NASA, limiting them on what they can do. Also NASA currently depends on Russia to send people to the International Space Station, and we pay a large price for a seat. Due to this and what they can offer, private companies taking part in space exploration is becoming a popular option. There are those who are cautious to this movement, as there are potential drawbacks to them. Despite …show more content…

Space exploration was able to flourish as much as it did during the Cold War because of the United States’ competition with the Soviet Union. “These benefits sufficiently justified the investment and risk during the Cold War. And although those purposes still existed after the Soviet threat disappeared, they were no longer sufficient to justify an indefinite continuation of the program in the United States” (Vedda, 34). Thus once it ended, the drive for space exploration slowed and NASA began to become restricted to what it could do. Private companies can bring competition back to space exploration, just like in any other industry. Companies will compete to become better than each other and try to be more popular with their customers. They will find cheaper and more efficient ways to get to space, making it much less expensive to go there. “It will increase availability and decrease the price of launches, which will allow the space economy to grow” (Aron 2). Companies competing can also give opportunities for new ideas and methods to be developed and actually be used by companies trying to be the best. Returning competition will speed up the progress made in space exploration, and may return us to making the achievements we were able to attain during the Cold …show more content…

“Elon Musk’s SpaceX sent a cargo capsule loaded with International Space Station supplies into orbit Saturday morning, but the company’s unprecedented attempt to set down the craft’s first-stage rocket on an ocean barge was rocky and damaged the booster” (Peterson “A partial success…” 1). SpaceX is trying to build a rocket that can be reused, which has not been done before in space travel. This rocket would greatly reduce the cost of space travel, and even though they didn’t succeed this time, they came close and plan on testing it again. SpaceX has already proven they can push the boundaries set on them. “To date, only governments have managed to harness the capital and intellectual muscle necessary to launch rockets into orbit” (Seedhouse 4). SpaceX was able to break this boundary, as they were able to send a rocket into orbit to supply the ISS. Another improvement is different types of shuttles. Companies will have different shuttles for certain missions, and these will vary between companies, giving a variety of shuttles that can be used. “SpaceX’s vegicle is designed to return to Earth, which allows us to bring home some of the science on board the station,’ says NASA spokesman Joshua Byerly. ‘Orbitals vehice is designed to allow us to pack it full of trash and be destroyed upon re-entry” (Aron 2). These varying

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